Explanation of the hadith of Abu Hurayrah: He said, “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), when he was brought the zahw, would say…”

The Shaykh : He cites a hadith on this with its authentic chain of narration from Abu Hurayrah, who said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), when he was brought the zahw—a type of date in the early stages of ripening—the Prophet (peace be upon him) would say: , and then he would hand it to the youngest child next to him. This is one of the Prophetic etiquettes that few people know, and even fewer practice. When new fruit first arrives, it is offered to the small child first. This is the Sunnah; this is what the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to do when this fruit came to him. He would first pray for the city for good, saying: . The city, one of whose names is “Taybah.”
On this occasion, I remind you that many Islamic writers call it “Yathrib.” This is a pre-Islamic name that a Muslim should not follow or support the people of the pre-Islamic age in using. He should either call it by its well-known name, “al-Madinah,” or, better yet, call it “Taybah,” because Allah named it so on the tongue of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). So, we should either say “Taybah” or “al-Madinah.” As for “Yathrib,” that is one of the names of the pre-Islamic age. It is regrettable that Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali, in his book *Fiqh al-Sirah*, frequently uses this name, Yathrib, for the city. When I traced his hadiths, I pointed this issue out to him.
Here, the hadith comes with the well-known name. When the zahw was brought to him (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him)—the zahw is the busr of the dates, and the busr is the very beginning of the dates’ ripening. Usually, when the dates are like the unripe grapes (hasr), they are green. Then they begin to turn yellow or red, depending on their variety. The beginning of their turning yellow or red means that sweetness is beginning to seep into them, but the astringent substance is still very strong in them. They are not eaten until they begin to turn red from the bottom. We see in al-Madinah, in many bunches, that the busr is hard throughout the body of the date, and the top is either yellowing or reddening, while the bottom is redder with an added layer. This is the busr. All of this is an indication that this date is at the very beginning of its ripening. So, when this zahw came to him (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him)—its name is busr and its name is zahw—he would pray for the people of al-Madinah, saying: , as they used, and still use, the mudd and the sa’ for measuring, and they rarely use the scale for grains, wheat and barley.
And in this hadith he says: . In some hadiths: . And Ibrahim (peace be upon him) prayed in Makkah, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned him, saying: . Then he would hand this new fruit to the youngest of the boys sitting closest to him.
This hadith is a detailed, or very detailed, elaboration of a hadith that came before. He headed it with a new chapter, saying in the chapter following the previous one: “Chapter on the Mercy of the Young Child.” He mentioned the aforementioned hadith from ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb, from his father, from his grandfather, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Do you remember? I think this hadith came up with us before. So now, as a practical translation of the phrase: ; one of the ways of showing mercy to the young child is that this new fruit is offered to the small child before the older one; because the small child remains more eager for the new thing than the one who is older. So this is part of the mercy for the young child.
Yes.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : No, this is contrary to the Sunnah. Sugar is abundant and plentiful. The Sunnah is for the thing to be novel and new; what is not known except by the Sunnah for a month, two months, or six months at most. As for the usual distribution, I do not know if it has passed or will come. There are explicit hadiths: ; there is no organization or arrangement here, but rather this is the aforementioned etiquette regarding new fruit.
The point is that this second chapter seems to hint and indicate that that etiquette of starting by giving the new fruit to the young child is part of what falls under the mercy for the young child, which the Prophet (peace be upon him) encouraged in this hadith: .